Delhi Crime and the Monsters Among Us

A few days ago I watched Delhi Crime, a Netflix original TV show based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape case. I can give the show a rating, praise the actors, use a few adjectives to describe the director's talent but that's not what this show demands. Delhi Crime shows us that monsters live among us and we need to stop them before they strike again. People think that women are exaggerating when they say they feel scared every time they leave their homes but the victim, in this case, was raped on a bus. In South Asia, we value our honor more than the lives of our daughters and that's why a lot of rape cases go unreported. So if you want to think for a moment that what happened in Delhi was an isolated incident, think again.

There are all kinds of things that a woman has to hear on social media when she expresses her hatred and fear of men. The one thing that all women have heard by now is: what about your father and brother? Well, I was still thinking about Delhi Crime when I read the news that three brothers in Pakistan raped their teenage sister for two years. Before that, I had heard of a case where the father and brother of a girl raped her repeatedly before getting caught. So yeah, I want to know too, what about our fathers and brothers? What about the enablers who see their friends harassing women on the street and stay quiet? Or the ones who decide to join their friends in such acts?

After the Delhi rape, India made changes in their rape laws, they did something for women. It didn’t make it all better for women, but it is something. What have we done in all these years for the safety of women? Does anyone still remember Zainab? Even our children aren’t safe. But when women march about their rights, they receive hatred and threats of rape. There are monsters among us but we also have the power and the resources to stop them and protect our daughters. The question is, will we?